This NASA Outstanding Leadership medal and its accessories were awarded to Dr. Sally K. Ride on August 13, 1987. It is one of the most prestigious awards given by NASA, and it recognizes exceptional ability in leading people, achieving results, influencing change, and being a role model. Ride announced her retirement from NASA several months prior to recieving the award, and she left in September. Notably, in 1987 she also led the task force that produced a visionary strategic planning report in 1987 titled, “NASA Leadership and America’s Future in Space,” known popularly as the Ride Report.
Sally Ride became the first American woman in space when she flew aboard STS-7 in 1983. Her second and last space mission was STS-41G in 1984. A physicist with a Ph.D., she joined the astronaut corps in 1978 as a part of the first class of astronauts recruited specifically for the Space Shuttle Program. Viewed as a leader in the NASA community, she served on the Rogers Commission after the Challenger disaster in 1986 as well as the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) in 2003. She also led the task force that produced a visionary strategic planning report in 1987 titled, “NASA Leadership and America’s Future in Space,” but known popularly as the Ride Report.
After she retired from NASA in 1987, Dr. Ride taught first at Stanford and later at the University of California, San Diego. Until her death in 2012, she was president and CEO of Sally Ride Science, a company that promoted science education.
Dr. Ride’s partner, Dr. Tam O’Shaughnessy, donated the award to the Museum in 2013.
This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.